Apollo Vredestein has appointed Karl Naylor as UK country manager effective 11 July. Naylor brings with him over 20 years’ experience in sales and marketing at Michelin, Grouptyre and latterly with Kumho Tyre (UK).
Matthias Urban has taken over the role of head of sales at Apollo Vredestein. He succeeds Jaap van Wessum, who will leave the company later this year after spending more than two decades there in various functions. The former Goodyear Dunlop business unit and marketing director began in his new position with Apollo Vredestein on 1 July.
At present there are 220 Apollo Vredestein tyre specialists in the UK, and Apollo Vredestein says this number will increase by almost 30 per cent by next year, with 280 centres expected to be operating. This growth in the UK network is occurring as part a wider push to expand the network in Europe.
The management team of Apollo Vredestein has relocated from the city of Enschede in the Netherlands to Amsterdam. The tyre maker shares that its European region management and senior management, along with Europe-based staff responsible for global manufacturing and quality functions, began the shift to Amsterdam last September. The relocation is now complete, with some 50 people currently housed in the new premises, including Apollo Vredestein CEO and Apollo Tyres’ president for Europe and America, Mathias Heimann.
AV PR has been tasked with handling public relations and promotional activities for Apollo Vredestein B.V. in the UK. The public relations firm’s brief is to facilitate good relations across print, broadcast and online media, as well as support social media and website content creation.
A successor to the Vredestein Ultrac Cento has been unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The new Vredestein Ultrac Satin is aimed at the premium high performance market and available in passenger car and SUV sizes. Manufacturer Apollo Vredestein says the Giugiaro-designed range was “developed for the discerning driver” and is crammed with advanced technology developed by the Apollo Tyres global R&D centre.
Former Apollo Vredestein UK managing director Stuart Jackson has joined Bridgestone’s north region senior management team as business development director. Jackson will work in support of all departments in the UK and Ireland as well as the Nordic countries of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway and will manage the delivery of a number of key projects as part of a “continued process to transform the sales and profitability of the business”.
The Vredestein Traxion+ and Vredestein TraxionXXL tyres gained major recognition during the recent Agritechnica agricultural trade show. Following extensive evaluation by German testing and research institute DLG (Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft, or German Agricultural Society) in the spring and summer of 2015, it was announced at Agritechnica that both tyres have been designated ‘DLG certified’ products.
A trio of new Vredestein agricultural tyres were presented at the recent Agritechnica show in Germany. These were the Traxion Harvest tyre for harvesters and the Traxion Versa and Endurion for telescopic handlers, backhoe loaders and compact loaders.
Apollo Vredestein has launched a Dealer Partnership programme across Europe, with the intention of increasing the visibility of its brand. Four new shops were opened simultaneously in Belgium, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands, while others are planned for Austria, Germany, Spain and Switzerland in the coming months. Apollo said its eventual goal is to have 800 programme partners by 2020, throughout Europe.
The winners of the 2015 Tyre Industry Awards were announced during the 86th NTDA Annual Dinner on 1 October following the new one-day Tyre Industry Conference at the International Convention Centre (ICC), Birmingham. Attendance at the dinner set a new record, with 60 tables sold out. The speaker and presenter of the awards was former England Rugby Union international, amateur dancer and current television pundit, Austin Healey, who added some trademark irreverence to proceedings. The Awards were also live-tweeted as they were announced on the @Tyrepress Twitter feed. The awards were sponsored this year by Sailun Tyres.
Apollo Vredestein is sharing a joint IAA stand with Mansory, a German luxury car ‘tuner’. According to the companies, the stand will showcase several new and unique Mansory creations equipped with Vredestein tyres. In addition, the IAA will mark the starting point of #RockTheRoad.
The all-season tyre segment is growing in the UK and Europe, and Apollo Vredestein is catering to this trend through the addition of a Y speed rated fitment and a SUV version to its Vredestein Quatrac 5 range. The Quatrac 5 line-up now includes five dimensions for 13 to 19-inch rim diameters, with speed ratings T to Y covered.
Vredestein representatives are highlighting the results the brand’s summer tyres have achieved in recent independent tyre tests. The Vredestein Sportrac 5 and Vredestein Ultrac Vorti were rated highly in various independent European tyre tests across dry handling, sound level and fuel consumption tests.
German car magazine Auto Bild, the German and Austrian automobile clubs ADAC and ÖAMTC, and the consumer organisation Stiftung Warentest subjected the all-round model Vredestein Sportrac 5 and the Ultra High Performance tyre Vredestein Ultrac Vorti to their multipurpose testing programmes.
The winners of this year’s Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence were announced yesterday at a ceremony in Cologne, Germany, and Michelin has come out on top in two of the five awards categories.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.